ARES VII: The Best One Yet

Congratulations to Adam and Carolyn Neary for presenting to local fans one more in a series of great boxing shows. As Carolyn calmly put it early in the night, “It’s getting easier.” Yeah, well, I think other folks trying the same thing would be institutionalized by this point. Being a boxing promoter has to be one of the most difficult jobs there is, and this card topped them all for unforeseen challenges. ARES had to cope with a series of last minute opponent cancellations and line-up changes. But for the Nearys, it does seem to be getting easier – and that’s nothing but good for us.

Javy Martinez and Ray Velez (PHOTO:Lonnie McCabe)

ARES VII at the Empire State Plaza (The Egg) last night had a bit of everything: some ESPN-level talent, some nostalgia, two brothers on the same card, a fighter coming back from donating a part of his liver (an all-time first), and one of the most exciting live fights local fans have ever seen. ARES VII even served as the launching pad for a new Foundation – Knock Out Liver Disease (KOLD). More about that in a second, but if we don’t begin by talking about the Javy Martinez-Ray Velez fight, it would probably tear a hole in the universe.

For four rounds, fans were greeted to a stunning encounter between two very special people. Taken individually, Martinez and Velez are seriously good fighters. Each moves well, is very fast, throws intelligently, and isn’t afraid to take chances. But together, my goodness, they became a work of art insofar as the whole far exceeded the sum of the parts and was performed like a symphony for the 1000+ fans lucky enough to have been there. It was about courage, spirit, honor, respect, and dignity. Sorry, but it’s hard to talk about these guys without getting sappy. They reminded this local fan of why he loves boxing in the first place.

Let’s start at the beginning, a very good place to start according to Rodgers & Hammerstein. You might have read earlier in the week that Martinez and Velez couldn’t have been more equally matched, not just in terms of their records: 2-0, 1 KO going into last night’s contest, but in their talent and styles – even in their commitment to the sport and what it means to them. They’re even good friends. We could go on and on about the remarkable commonalities in their histories (In case you missed it, you can read about each of them here – http://blog.timesunion.com/boxing/javy-martinez-no-excuses-no-fear/9584/ , and here – http://blog.timesunion.com/boxing/ray-velez-one-remarkable-young-man/584/ . Velez’ story is so inspiring that I did a column on him in Ring Magazine about a year ago, but it could have just as easily been about Martinez.

PHOTO: Lonnie McCabe

Anyway, they walked to the center of the ring at the opening bell and just stayed there, as I predicted they’d do – willing to face anything, run from nothing, and give it everything. When confronted by the speed of the other, each responded by becoming a nanosecond faster, until the action became so incredibly quick that it was difficult to discern what was landing and what wasn’t. They made the entire crowd get strangely quiet at times as they had to not only watch, but concentrate. While neither fighter is known as a serious puncher, there were some real bombs being thrown in there. Quite honestly, I had never seen either fight quite this way. The better one would look, the better the other would get.

And so it went on, into the second round. Punches began to land. Whatever friendship and admiration that exists between them was going to have wait three more rounds for expression. This was war.

Martinez was landing more cleanly, but just when it would appear that he was about to take command, Velez would create a beautiful angle, as though to say to Martinez, “not tonight, my friend.” To say that these guys let down in the third round would definitely convey the wrong idea. It was more like going from warp-factor nine to eight, as each took a breath.

Coming into the arena last night, I was speaking to a young woman who had read my comments leading up to the fight, and she asked me to be dead honest: whom did I think was going to win. I said I truly didn’t know, but if someone waterboarded me for an answer, I would say that Javy is stronger and since he’s a Schott’s Boxing fighter, training alongside nine active pros, he’s been getting phenonemal sparring, and not just once in a while, but all the time. For the past year or so, sparring for Javy Martinez has meant lots more than finding who’s around and has a few extra minutes; it’s meant going six or eight hard rounds with folks like Manny Lucero or Ayi Bruce. You don’t do that without getting stronger.

So I said to the woman that Javy might wear on Velez after three rounds and begin to break him down in the fourth, which is exactly what happened. You could feel the momentum shifting in favor of Martinez, as Velez began to back up, no longer for strategic purposes, but to attempt to slow the action. He was feeling the heat. Then came the Martinez overhand right and Velez went down. The crowd, the one that had been quietly studying the best fight they’d ever seen live, erupted in a roar I haven’t heard in a long time, not outside Madison Square Garden anyway.

Martinez lands the overhand right that put down Velez in the 4rth (PHOTO: Lonnie McCabe)

Did Velez stay down? Yeah, right. He was up at the count of like, zero. Tough, tough dude. The action resumed, but Velez was not the same. You can’t be a half-step behind in a fight like this. Martinez won the unanimous decision and it was the right call.

I’m proud to count Javy Martinez and Ray Velez among my very good friends. Watching them fight was hard, and not because boxing is a rough sport and somebody might get hurt, blah, blah. It was because I wanted both of these noble warriors to win; or more precisely, I wanted neither to lose. In a perfect world, that’s the way it would be. But the world isn’t perfect. That’s one reason why boxing is such an apt metaphor for life down here. Because if you carry yourself the right way, who wins or loses matters less than do the qualities of courage, spirit, honor, respect, dignity – all those sappy things I mentioned up top.

Javy knows this too, of course, which is one reason he hugged Velez firmly after the fight. He kissed him and I could read his lips when, on the verge of tears, he said to him: “Thank you so, so much.” Congratulations to Javy Martinez, now 3-0, 1 KO.

NOTE TO RAY VELEZ: Thank you so, so much, indeed.

Martinez-Velez made the feature event that followed look like slow motion for the first round. But make no mistake, the Dominican Republic’s star lightweight Eudy Bernardo (10-0, 6 KOs) and Rochester’s Darnell Jiles, Jr. (8-2-1, 3 KOs) are world class fighters, and proved it last night in a fight who’s display of skill more than made up for a lack of excitement, something that can happen when a fighters’ great defense nullifies the other’s offense.

I don’t know Bernardo’s reach advantage over Jiles, but let’s just say the Bernardo jab was all Jiles could think about as every time he’d try to mount an attack, his forehead would wind up with the fresh imprint of a Cleto Reyes glove. Bernardo, on the other hand, was preoccupied respecting Jiles’ power and used that jab to keep him away. So the six-round contest became a dance of sorts, a chess match that impressed fans intrigued by that sort of thing; but as I said, they followed Martinez-Velez. It was like if a guy had been asked to say a few words to the Pennsylvania crowd after the Gettysburg Address. They lost folks’ attention, despite their talents.

It felt good to see Shannon Miller (16-5, 9KOs) walk into the ring with his robe on, rather than in street clothes to take a bow. He’s a part of our history in the local boxing scene. Fans, this one included, have lots of fond memories of this guy in action. And seeing Pugnacious Promotions’ Lisa Elovich in the ring with him before the introductions, we were remined of how these two local boxing luminaries are largely responsible for professional boxing’s resurgence in the Capital Region.

But within minutes, Lisa was sitting behind me again, the Miller robe was off, and nostalgia was back in the rear view mirror from whence it came. Standing across from Shannon was Montreal’s Taffo Assongwed (2-9-6), a guy whose record is deceiving. This guy was the perfect one to give Miller some trouble. Miller likes to put people away early, and that would be especially true this time, since he would choose anything but to go six long rounds given all that’s happened to him in the past several months.

Early this year, Miller donated half of his liver to his Uncle Ray who would have otherwise surely died of liver cancer. Normal humans, after undergoing a surgery of that significance, would just now be discovering that they can turn off the TV without using the remote. But within a few weeks, Shannon Miller had returned to roadwork, then boxing workouts, with the plan to be the first person to fight after organ donation surgery.

Needless to say, a quick knockout sounded like a good idea to Camp Miller. But getting ready for this fight was proving difficult. “It helps to know who it is you’re getting ready for,” Shannon said at Thursday’s weigh-in. “Is he 6’4″? Is he short?” But that was impossible as each scheduled opponent would pull out for reasons too many to mention here. On top of that was the worry that the NYS Athletic Commission might not even approve Shannon’s fight. As we said, nobody, but nobody has ever voluntarily given away a piece of their bodies, then asked the Commission for permission to fight on a pro card.

To make a very long story short, the approval came and the opponent was found – Taffo Assongwed, fewer than 48-hours before fight time. This was both good news and bad news. Good for the obvious reason, and bad for the obvious reason: Shannon would have a fight, but he would be in for a long night. Assongwed had never been stopped in his entire career – even in the amateurs.

Over and over, Miller would try to land a thunderous jab that would set up that big Miller go-home-early right hand, and Assongwed would cleverly catch it in his gloves. He was so good at this, that slipping the left wasn’t even necessary. He’d simply catch it and circle to the right, away from Shannon’s power. Miller would deftly cut off the ring, find Assongwed, throw the left hand, and the pattern would repeat itself. Assongwed would occasionally return a flurry, some of which would find Miller but none seemed to do any damage.

As the fight went on, Miller started going to the body to try to force down Assongwed’s hands. But to Miller’s surprise, Assongwed would return fire, scoring some impressive combinations and opening a small cut under Miller’s left eye. Miller would occasionally catch Assongwed, enough to put the Canadian back on his bicycle and circling to the right again.

At the end of the sixth round contest, the judges gave Miller the UD 59-55, 59-55, 58-56.

Mark Anderson and Shawn Miller (Photo: Lonnie McCabe)

The post-fight interview gave ring announcer Joe Antonacci the chance to ask Miller about the Foundation. But the first question was, “How did you feel?” The answer told the whole story in one word: “Awful,” said Miller with a smile. It’s one thing to cope with ring rust; another to fight six rounds under these remarkable circumstances. While the Foundation is being organized, Miller asked that people email him directly about contributions at shannonfight@yahoo.com

Brother Shawn Miller (6-1-1, 3KOs) was coming back with a purpose: to set the record straight regarding South Carolina light heavyweight, Mark Anderson (2-4-1, 2KOs). They had met two months ago on ARES VI and fought to a majority draw. This didn’t go down easily with Miller, especially since lots of folks would have given the decision to Anderson.

So Miller needed to settle the score, once and for all. And he almost did in the first round of last night’s battle, dropping Anderson with a hard right. This was a different Shawn Miller, more relaxed than we’ve seen him and more on his feet when when he throws. We know he’s been working with Jerrick Jones since the last fight. Jones is the best trainer you could find when it comes to teaching boxing fundamentals. To what degree we can credit Jones, or simply the increasing experience Shawn is getting, nobody knows. But we’re clear on this: Last night was a UD, not an MD – 59-52, 60-53, 60-53.

I was impressed with undefeated Utica, NY super middleweight Andy Mejias (11-0, 4KOs) the first time I saw him in June 2010. He showed tons of natural ability and had a great trainer in Tim Green. The only thing that’s changed since then is that he’s a lot more experienced and better, and Green has sent him to NYC for a while to work under Gary Stark while he gets better sparring.

Predictably, Mejias looked real solid against Marcus Brooks (7-8-0, 3KOs) from Bayamon, PR. Brooks is no day-in-the-park; he’s crafty and hard to hit. Nonetheless, Mejias would find him, especially early on when his punches had real snap. Mejias’ body shots, even when caught by Brooks’ arms would seem to hurt him, same as I saw happening at Turning Stone Casino last January, when “blocked” body shots still got the attention of Denver, CO’s David Atencio.

Had Mejias not lost some steam in the last three rounds, it’s doubtful Brooks would have seen all six. But in order to make weight, Mejias had dropped twelve pounds in a few days – never a good idea. So much of a rapid loss like that comes in the form of water-weight that re-hydrating after the weigh-in can take up to 72-hours. Coming into a fight a little dehydrated will sap your strength in a hurry.

Mejias got the UD: 60-54, 59-55, 59-55, but Brooks nonetheless looked impressive in the lopsided loss. Remember the name Andy Mejias. It’s going to start coming across you radar more and more often, trust me.